Smoked in Memphis. What Hornets said after season-best win streak snapped by Grizzlies
Those winning ways for the Charlotte Hornets lasted about as long as a beverage being consumed at a Beale Street establishment.
Overmatched and overwhelmed from the opening tip, the Hornets yielded the most points they’ve surrendered in a half all season and were overpowered by the Memphis Grizzlies in a 132-120 loss at FedEx Forum Wednesday night.
Among the few positives in a game the Hornets surely would otherwise be glad to flush: Mark Williams tossed in a career-best 38 points despite registering a scoreless first quarter. He also had nine rebounds and five assists, just missing out on posting his fifth straight double-double.
“Mark is an ultimate team guy and he’s obviously trying to do everything he can to impact winning,” coach Charles Lee said. “And so how he played in the second half is really what we needed I think in the first half, the force he played with and his ability to finish in the paint.
“So, you definitely want to celebrate it. Nothing in this league comes easy and he works his tail off, so we are all happy for him that he hit that career high. Next time we just hope it’s in a win.”
Williams wasn’t even aware of how many points he totaled until someone told him in the locker room afterward. But he got it going against the Grizzlies.
“Shoot, my teammate (were) finding me,” Williams said. “I think second half we turned up the intensity as a team, finding me, got to my floaters, a couple of dunks, a couple of offensive rebounds. We just gave ourselves a chance to fight in the second half.”
Thanks partially to Williams.
He came in averaging 22.7 points, 14.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes this season. In NBA history, no one has met those thresholds while playing at least 50 minutes in a season, and it’s a reason why Williams’ confidence is increasing steadily.
“It’s continuing to go up every game,” Williams said. “I think it’s just a credit to my teammates trusting me, trusting me with the ball, being able to make plays, finding them finding me. So it’s just working well right now. Obviously, a tough result tonight, but overall the last couple of games we’ve been doing a lot of good things.”
Here’s what Lee had to say about their first defeat in four games and what’s worked well for them lately leading into their outing against the Grizzlies:
On pulling within 12 late in the second half after falling behind by 30 points:
“It’s who we are,” Lee said. “I talked about it at halftime, about just having pride. I thought it was individual pride defensively, and also just collective team pride to want to do it together and continue to compete.
“We talked about trying to win each quarter coming out of halftime and we did that. I think we just have to build on that positive momentum. The defensive intensity was a lot better, our activity was a lot better, and the hands and deflections and even our pace offensively. So, now we have to continue to build on that as we go home.”
On what stood out most during three-game winning streak:
“I think that first and foremost, the guys are learning from all of those experiences that we had, all those close games,” Lee said. “Obviously, it’s been a lot of different lineups that have experienced them. But we come in, we watch film, we walk through it on the court, that just over time you start to gain a little more confidence in what the plan of attack is defensively and offensively at the end of the game.
“Over the last few games, I just see an attention to detail and focus throughout the game on whatever the game plan is. On coverage execution, from whatever we are seeing from the other team.
“And I think the guys are starting to get a little more comfortable in all the stuff that we do and sustaining it for four quarters instead of some of the time where we’ve had these too long of lapses early in the season.”
On LaMelo Ball having at least nine assists in last four games:
“Yeah, love to see that stat for all of our guys,” Lee said. “It just shows that we are trusting the pass, and we are trusting each other, and we are doing it for 48 minutes. And I think that he’s just grown tremendously and is bringing all these guys along with him. Obviously, when you’re so talented there’s a lot put on you in terms of scoring,
“But other times you have to help the other guys kind of keep up with you and facilitate and put them in places to be just as successful, I think it takes some of the pressure off him. And he’s done a phenomenal job of just sticking with it. A guy makes a shot, misses a shot, take what the defense gives you.
“It just helps him not turning it over as much. It’s an area of our offense where we can continue to get better. And so if he can take what the defense gives and keeps hitting the seam passes or is passing ahead it’s going to put him in better position throughout the game and also his teammates.”
